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JUST  NERVES 


JUST  NERVES 


BY 

AUSTEN  FOX  RIGGS,  M.D. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HODGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


1922 


COPYRIGHT,  1922,  BY  AUSTEN  FOX  R1GGS 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


Vfc  »toerufec 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED  IN  THE  U.S^. 


TO 

B.  C.  R. 


496^0 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION,  BY  HENRY  VAN  DYKE  9 

I.  USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS  13 

II.  HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  23 

III.  MODERN  LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE  37 

IV.  CHILDHOOD  TRAINING  55 
V.  COMMON-SENSE  RULES  77 


NOTE 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  the  editors  of  Menial  Hy- 
giene for  permission  to  reprint  those  parts  of  this  book 
which  appeared  in  the  April,  1922,  number  of  that  journal. 


INTRODUCTION 

THIS  is  certainly  a  good  book  on  a  difficult 
subject  —  a  sane,  modest,  helpful,  and 
encouraging  book  —  based  on  a  true 
philosophy  of  life,  verified  and  corrected 
on  every  page  by  the  practical  experience 
of  a  successful  physician  to  nervous  in- 
valids. 

Here  is  the  point  which  Dr.  Biggs  makes 
clear  in  his  booklet.  Most  of  these  in- 
valids are  real,  not  imaginary,  sufferers. 
But  the  cause  of  their  suffering  is  not  so 
much  a  nervous  disease  as  it  is  a  nervous 
disorder.  The  way  to  cure  that  is  to  re- 
establish the  right  order;  the  reasonable 
rule,  the  self-control  which  is  the  secret 
of  spiritual  and  physical  health. 

Of  course  medicine  and  hygiene  are  use- 
ful in  keeping  the  organs  of  the  body  in 
good  working  condition,  in  counteracting 
the  influence  of  poisonous  germs,  in  stim- 
ulating the  action  of  certain  glands  which 


10  INTRODUCTION 

have  gone  to  sleep  and  fallen  down  on 
their  job.  The  wise  physician  prescribes 
his  remedies  according  to  his  best  judg- 
ment, taking  his  patient  into  his  confidence 
about  the  effect  which  he  wishes  to  pro- 
duce. The  sensible  patient  accepts  the 
judgment  of  his  chosen  doctor  and  takes 
the  prescription  hopefully  and  cheerfully, 
thereby  adding  immensely  to  the  efficacy 
of  the  medicine  which  is  exhibited. 

But  back  of  all  this,  in  nervous  disor- 
ders, lies  the  soul  — 

"  Vital  spark  of  heavenly  flame  "  — 

and  it  is  there,  in  that  abode  of  person- 
ality, human  and  divine,  that  the  decision 
between  life  and  death  must  be  made. 

Will  you,  or  won't  you,  be  well? 

That  is  the  question  which  every  nerv- 
ous sufferer  must  answer.  You  must 
answer  it  for  yourself.  Your  enemies  are 
fear  and  worry  and  vanity  and  laziness 
and  self-indulgence.  Your  friends  are 
courage  and  obedience  and  humility  and 


INTRODUCTION  11 

patience  and  the  sense  of  duty  and  love 
and  God.  Live  with  your  friends.  Then 
your  doctor  can  help  you. 

This,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the  meaning 
of  the  little  book  which  Dr.  Riggs  has 
written  out  of  his  experience.  It  does  not 
need  any  introduction;  but  I  am  glad  to 
write  one  because  I  have  known  him 
since  he  was  a  very  little  boy,  and  I  am 
sure  that  what  he  says  is  sound,  and  that 
he  practices  what  he  preaches  —  to  the 
good  of  all  his  patients. 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE 


JUST  NERVES 
I 

USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS 


JUST  NERVES 


USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS 

How  often  does  one  hear  some  unfortu- 
nate person's  troubles  tersely  and  some- 
what contemptuously  summarized  by  the 
supercilious  onlooker  as  "just  nerves"! 
As  though  now  that  the  doctors  had  been 
unable  to  find  a  serious  physical  disease, 
there  was  nothing  left  but  to  condemn  the 
still  obstinately  remaining  disorder  as 
"  purely  imaginary." 

This  popular  prejudice  against  nervous 
disorders  is,  like  most  prejudices,  based 
upon  ignorance  and  misunderstanding; 
in  this  instance  ignorance  of  the  facts  of 
human  psychology  and  misunderstanding 
of  the  phenomena  of  human  behavior. 

Much  confusion  has  arisen  in  the  lan- 
guage which  deals  with  mental  phenom- 


16  JUST  NERVES 

ena,  especially  during  the  last  few  years, 
so  that  before  plunging  into  the  subject 
of  nervousness,  I  wish  to  define  very 
briefly  in  just  what  sense  I  use  certain 
much-used  and  much-abused  terms. 

In  the  first  place,  psychology  is  often 
given,  at  least  by  implication,  many  mys- 
terious and  confusing  meanings.  This  is 
not  surprising  when  one  realizes  that  it  is 
only  during  the  last  century  that  psychol- 
ogy has  gradually  emerged  from  the 
status  of  a  pseudo-science,  a  sort  of  unim- 
portant tail  of  metaphysics,  into  recogni- 
tion for  itself.  In  our  generation  its  termi- 
nology has  been  mutilated  and  the  pieces 
appropriated  by  dozens  of  semi-religious, 
semi-philosophical  cults,  false  healing  sys- 
tems, and  well-meant  but  misguided  floods 
of  pseudo-scientific  popular  books,  deal- 
ing with  everything  which  has  for  the  pub- 
lic the  least  element  of  mystery  in  it,  from 
the  action  of  the  digestive  organs  to 
spiritism. 

Briefly,  psychology  is  only  a  sort  of  in- 


USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS      17 

elusive  physiology.  It  deals  with  human 
behavior;  with  the  response  of  man,  the 
wise  animal,  Homo  sapiens^  to  his  envi- 
ronment. Just  as  physiology  deals  with 
the  reactions  of  his  separate  organs,  and 
groups  of  organs  to  their  extrinsic  and  in- 
trinsic environment,  so  psychology  deals 
with  the  response  to  environment  of  man 
as  a  whole.  The  object  of  human  psychol- 
ogy is  plainly,  then,  to  interpret  human 
behavior  and  finally  to  predict  what  that 
behavior  will  be  under  given  circum- 
stances. 

Mental  hygiene  may  be  considered  a 
subdivision  of  psychology,  one  of  its  medi- 
cal branches.  To  be  more  definitive:  it  is 
the  psychological  branch  of  preventive 
medicine.  It  concerns  itself  with  the  ways 
and  means,  the  rules  and  regulations 
necessary  to  normal  behavior;  that  is,  to 
normal  response  of  the  individual  to  his 
surroundings. 

Finally,  to  avoid  confusion  let  us  as- 
sume a  definite  meaning  for  environment. 


18  JUST  NERVES 

Let  this  term  include  everything  not  in- 
cluded under  the  term  individual.  In 
short,  it  is  the  world  in  which  he  "lives, 
moves,  and  has  his  being."  It  has  its  physi- 
cal as  well  as  its  mental  aspects.  To  both 
of  these  aspects  it  is  the  individual's  prob- 
lem to  adjust  himself.  The  physical  ele- 
ments of  environment,  such  as  food,  cloth- 
ing, and  the  avoidance  of  physical  vio- 
lence and  disease,  are  the  business  of  phy- 
siology, of  physiological  medicine,  of  pre- 
ventive and  physical  hygiene,  and  are  not 
therefore  germane  to  our  present  subject. 
The  mental  elements  of  the  environment, 
on  the  other  hand,  which  are  essentially 
the  social  elements,  are  very  much  our 
present  concern.  These  are  the  elements 
which  are  definitely  and  specifically  the 
business  of  mental  hygiene. 

The  social  aspects  are  par  excellence 
those  to  which  man  as  a  whole  reacts  in 
terms  of  behavior.  There  are,  in  the  first 
place,  such  things  or  situations  which  seem 
to  threaten  or  protect  the  integrity  of  his 


USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS     19 

life  as  a  whole,  and  which  are  to  him 
markedly  agreeable  or  disagreeable.  The 
outstandingly  important  situations  are,  of 
course,  made  up  of  other  people  to  whose 
lives  he  has  to  adapt  himself,  who,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  adapting  themselves  to 
him.  To  ensure  adequate  and  skillful  ad- 
justment to  these  primarily  social  aspects 
of  his  surroundings,  to  prevent  the  acci-, 
dents  and  illnesses  peculiar  to  maladjust- 
ment, in  short,  to  help  the  individual  to 
initiate  and  to  maintain  habits  of  normal 
and  effective  response,  is  the  primary  ob- 
ject of  this  psychological  branch  of  pre- 
ventive medicine  —  called  mental  hygiene. 
Among  the  most  frequent  and  the  most 
commonly  misunderstood  results  of  poor 
adjustment  of  man  to  his  environment  is 
the  condition  which  we  call "  nervousness." 
Through  simply  applying  a  little  of  the 
knowledge  already  formulated  by  men- 
tal hygiene,  a  great  many,  probably  all 
cases,  of '"  nervous  breakdown  "  could  be 
avoided.  To  cure  this  condition  when  once 


20  JUST  NERVES 

it  is  established  is  the  concern  of  a  special 
branch  of  medicine.  To  do  this  obviously 
requires  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the 
disorder  on  the  part  of  the  physician.  But 
it  is  not  quite  so  obvious  that  a  similar, 
though  far  less  extensive,  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  the  prospective  patient  himself 
is  required  to  prevent  and  will  prevent 
these  conditions  from  developing.  This 
knowledge  fortunately  need  not  be  as  full 
nor  as  detailed  as  that  required  of  the 
physician  to  cure;  and  equally  fortu- 
nately it  is  true  that  such  sufficient  knowl- 
edge exists,  and  that  furthermore  it  is 
available  to  any  one  of  moderate  educa- 
tion and  intelligence.  It  only  needs  adop- 
tion by  the  thinking  public,  especially  by 
parents,  to  cut  down  the  incidence  of 
nervousness  to  an  enormous  degree. 

Mental  Hygiene  is  as  yet  very  young, 
but  as  it  grows  older  it  will  grow  wiser; 
it  will  offer  more  and  more  of  its  knowl- 
edge in  usable  form  and  there  will  be  less 
and  less  necessity  for  nervousness,  fewer 


USED  AND  ABUSED  WORDS     21 

and  fewer  nervous  breakdowns.  Even 
now,  it  offers  enough  to  enable  us  to  say 
that  nervous  breakdowns  are  not  only 
curable,  but  are  distinctly  preventable  dis- 
orders. 

Now,  as  to  nervousness  itself:  As  I 
have  already  intimated,  this  condition  is 
the  result  of  imperfect  response  on  the 
part  of  the  victim  to  the  social  aspects  of 
his  surroundings.  I  now  wish  to  add  most 
emphatically  that  "  nervousness  "  is  not  a 
disease,  but  is  a  disorder.  It  is  not  a  dis- 
ease of  the  nerves  or  brain  or  of  any  other 
part  of  the  body.  It  is  not  "  auto-intoxi- 
cation." It  is  not  "  weakness  of  the 
nerves,"  nor  exhaustion,  nor  fatigue,  nor 
a  perquisite  of  the  idle  rich.  It  is  none  of 
these  things.  In  other  words,  I  want  to 
make  it  quite  clear  that  it  is  purely  and 
simply  the  result  of  maladjustment  on  the 
part  of  an  otherwise  perfectly  sound,  es- 
sentially normal  person,  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  both  curable  and  furthermore 
avoidable. 


22  JUST  NERVES 

The  mentally  and  physically  unfit  ob- 
viously cannot  respond  normally  to  their 
surroundings.  They  are  inadequate.  They 
constitute  an  entirely  different  problem. 
In  them  we  often  find  an  exhibition  of 
wonderful  courage,  resulting  often  in 
the  most  glorious  victories  —  the  triumphs 
of  the  handicapped.  Appealing  as  these 
cases  are,  we  must  leave  them  to  an- 
other chapter  of  the  subject,  for  just 
now  we  are  dealing  only  with  nervous- 
ness, and  this  is  not  inadequacy  but 
inefficiency.  Our  problem  is  the  most  hope- 
ful problem  of  all,  for  we  have  the  splen- 
did prospect  of  complete  cure,  of  absolute 
prevention  of  future  failures  of  adjust- 
ment, of  the  maintenance  of  complete  use- 
fulness, of  the  saving  of  a  vast  amount  of 
misery  and  suffering,  not  to  speak  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars'  worth  of  wasted  energy 
and  talent;  for  we  are  dealing  with  good, 
sound,  undamaged  material,  handicapped 
by  mismanagement  only. 


n 

JBTCJMAN  BEHAVIOR 


II 

HUMAN  BEHAVIOR 

NERVOUSNESS  is  largely  a  personal  prob- 
lem, a  question  of  personal  reactions,  and 
the  answer  can  best  be  summarized  in  the 
phrase,  "Know  thyself."  There  is  no 
mystical  implication  in  this  phrase  as  I 
use  it.  It  means  simply,  definitely  and 
specifically  that  self-knowledge,  psycholo- 
gically and  ethically,  is  the  best  assurance 
against  nervous  breakdowns.  Some  gen- 
eral impersonal  understanding  of  normal 
psychology — in  short,  of  human  behavior 
as  a  whole  —  is  manifestly  the  necessary 
foundation  for  this  essential  self-knowl- 
edge, and  it  is  likewise  the  basis  of  mental 
hygiene. 

Human  psychology,  as  I  have  already 
said,  resolves  itself  into  a  study  of  the  re- 
sponses of  man  as  a  whole  to  his  environ- 
ment. Roughly  speaking,  there  are  three 


26  JUST  NERVES 

types  or  kinds  of  response  into  which 
human  behavior  can  be  divided:  reflex 
instinctive,  and  acquired. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  each  one  of  us 
born  with  a  psychophysical  apparatus 
which  responds  in  its  various  parts  re- 
flexly  to  changes  in  its  surroundings.  A 
reflex  has  to  do  with  the  adjustment  of  a 
part  of  the  body  to  some  stimulus.  For 
instance,  let  an  irritating  substance  be. 
applied  to  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
nose.  It  responds  reflexly,  and  the  re- 
sponse is  a  sneeze.  Various  organs  and 
groups  of  organs  in  our  bodies  respond 
similarly  by  change  of  function  to  the 
varying  stimuli  which  are  brought  in  con- 
tact with  them.  The  stomach  responds  to 
the  presence  of  food,  and  varies  its  func- 
tion according  to  the  nature  of  the  food 
present.  The  pupil  of  the  eye  contracts  to 
the  stimulus  of  bright  light,  and  dilates  in 
the  dark.  The  respiratory  and  circulatory 
organs  respond  reflexly  to  the  quality  of 
the  air  we  breathe,  on  the  one  hand,  and 


HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  27 

the  varying  demands  of  the  body  for  oxy- 
gen, on  the  other. 

But  the  human  apparatus  has  other  in- 
herent dynamic  tendencies,  which  are,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  highly  com- 
pounded reflexes,  involving  not  parts  of 
the  body,  but  the  whole  individual.  When 
these  are  set  in  motion  by  the  appropriate 
stimuli,  the  whole  individual  responds  as  a 
unit,  and  this  we  call  instinctive  action. 
Instinctive  action  is  always  accompanied 
by  its  appropriate  emotion.  Indeed,  an 
emotion  is  an  intrinsic  and  inseparable 
part  of  its  instinct.  Conversely,  one  may 
say  that  an  instinct  depends  absolutely  on 
its  emotion  for  its  dynamic  force.  An  in- 
stinct is  no  more  and  no  less  than  an  in- 
born tendency  to  react  in  a  certain  pre- 
determined manner  to  certain  conditions 
or  stimuli.  For  example,  an  infant,  if 
hungry,  reacts  in  a  certain  predetermined, 
characteristic  way  in  response  to  food; 
also,  if  the  desire  for  food  is  frustrated, 
we  can  safely  predict  that  he  will  react  in- 


28  JUST  NERVES 

stinctively  in  another  perfectly  specific 
and  definite  manner.  One  instinctive  reac- 
tion being  frustrated,  another,  usually 
that  of  pugnacity,  takes  its  place;  much 
energy  is  mobilized  and  expressed,  and  in 
the  expression  we  recognize  that  instinct's 
own  appropriate  emotion  —  in  this  case, 
rage. 

As  another  example,  consider  what 
happens  extrinsically  and  intrinsically 
when  the  cat  sees  her  hereditary  enemy, 
the  dog.  The  response  is  immediate,  spe- 
cific, and  effectual.  She  presents  a  picture 
of  mobilized  energy.  The  mobilization  is, 
furthermore,  absolutely  appropriate  for 
the  purpose,  namely,  escape.  The  extrin- 
sic signs  of  this  status  are  stiffened  mus- 
cles, rigid  legs,  arched  back,  erect  tail,  and 
bristling  hair.  Intrinsically  there  are  other 
signs.  The  heart  is  beating  rapidly,  send- 
ing a  greatly  increased  amount  of  blood  to 
the  muscles,  and  to  all  other  organs  of  lo- 
comotion. That  blood,  furthermore,  car- 
ries to  the  motor  apparatus  increased 


HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  29 

quantities  of  readily  oxidizable  material 
from  the  internal,  so-called  ductless 
glands.  The  digestive  organs,  not  being 
needed  for  the  emergency,  are  in  a  state  of 
temporary  paralysis  —  put  temporarily 
out  of  business,  so  to  speak.  All  of  these 
internal  as  well  as  external  changes  are 
part  and  parcel  of  the  emotion  of  fear. 
The  cat  undoubtedly  feels  the  emotion  as 
an  irresistible  impulse  which,  with  re- 
markable swiftness,  impels  her  to  escape. 
Presumably  without  thought,  as  mechani- 
cally as  a  gun  is  discharged  by  a  pull  on 
the  trigger,  the  cat  at  the  sight  of  the  dog 
runs.  Should  she  meet  an  unclimbable 
fence,  the  instinct  of  escape  will  immedi- 
ately be  replaced  by  the  instinct  of  pugna- 
city and  quite  as  inevitably  wiH  she  turn 
with  rage  to  fight  her  pursuer. 

Thus,  if  one  studies  the  behavior  of  ani- 
mals, one  sees  instinctive  action  in  its  pure, 
unaltered  form,  especially  in  wild  animals. 
For  instance,  a  loud  noise  to  most  animals 
is  the  adequate  stimulus  to  set  in  motion 


30  JUST  NERVES 

the  instinct  of  escape,  and  tHe  emotion 
fear,  which  is  an  essential  part  of  this  in- 
stinct, literally  lends  wings  to  the  animal's 
flight. 

The  third  variety  of  action  in  human  be- 
havior is  that  of  acquired  modes  of  re- 
sponse. These  are  largely  modifications 
of  instinctive  reactions.  These  modifica- 
tions are  brought  about  by  training  the  in- 
telligence and  will,  which  are  as  conspicu- 
ous by  their  absence  among  animals  as 
they  are  by  their  presence  in  man. 

For  instance,  we  learn — that  is,  we  ac- 
quire the  habit  —  to  respond  in  certain 
conventional  ways  to  the  presence  of 
tempting  viands.  If  acting  instinctively 
and  without  acquired  control,  we  should 
respond  to  the  smell  and  sight  of  food  by 
simply  devouring  it,  and  if  interfered 
with,  we  should  as  simply  fly  into  a  rage 
and  fight.  Furthermore,  we  learn  to  mod- 
ify our  instinctive  actions  by  intelligent 
control,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
stituting some  opposite  action  more  ap- 


HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  31 

propriate  to  the  occasion,  such  as  doing 
the  right  and  intelligent  thing,  even 
though  fear,  let  us  say,  bids  us  run  away, 
but  we  train  the  very  instincts  themselves 
to  greater  perfection  of  action.  We  may 
become  skillful  fighters  if  need  arise,  as 
well  as  self-forgetful  and  reasonably  self- 
sacrificing  citizens. 

There  are  two  important  elements 
which  profoundly  affect  human  behavior 
and  which  vary  greatly  in  strength  in  any 
given  individual.  The  first  of  these  is 
temperament.  This  is  a  qualifying  char- 
acteristic. Briefly  described,  it  is  a  ten- 
dency to  be  over-sensitive  or  under-sensi- 
tive to  such  items  in  the  environment  as 
usually  produce  in  any  one  markedly, 
painful  or  markedly  pleasurable  sensa- 
tions and  emotions.  Over-sensitiveness  to 
one's  own  emotions  and  sensations  natu- 
rally leads  to  over-valuation  of  their  sig- 
nificance and  importance,  which  of  course 
directly  affects  behavior.  If  a  sensation  or 


32  JUST  NERVES 

an  emotion  is  valued  as  a  very  disagree- 
able one,  and  almost  intolerable  in  itself, 
one's  thoughts  and  efforts  are  naturally 
bent  on  getting  rid  of  it  or  modifying  it. 
If,  for  instance,  one  is  over- sensitive  to 
the  disagreeableness  of  fear  and  fear  it- 
self is  therefore  over-valued,  it  is  treated 
as  an  item  to  be  avoided  at  all  costs  and 
life  is  accordingly  modified,  consciously  or 
unconsciously. 

The  other  element  which  is  difficult  to 
define,  and  which  I  shall  not  even  attempt 
to  describe,  but  which  must  be  reckoned 
with  as  of  the  greatest  importance  in  hu- 
man behavior,  is  that  which  we  call 
spiritual.  It  expresses  itself  more  or  less 
concretely  in  ideals^  These  ideals  are  fre- 
quently in  conflict  with  our  instinctive  de- 
mands, and  this  conflict,  through  its  inter- 
ference with  the  realization  of  ideals 
through  action,  constitutes  the  fundamen- 
tal problem  of  human  conduct. 

On  the  one  hand,  animals,  without  the 
power  of  choice,  presumably  without 


HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  33 

spiritual  impulses,  are  impelled  in  any  sit- 
uation by  whatever  happens  to  be  the  in- 
stinct or  instincts  aroused  by  the  then 
present  environmental  stimuli.  They  do 
not  preside  over  the  conflict  of  instincts  nor 
presumably  is  there  any  conflict  between 
the  strongest  instinctive  impulse  and 
some  ideal  demand.  They  are  frankly  and 
simply  subject  to  their  instincts  and  their 
behavior  is  proportionately  simple  and  di- 
rect. A  cat,  when  she  sees  her  enemy,  the 
dog,  feels  the  emotion  of  fear  which  puts 
all  of  her  machinery  of  flight  into  action. 
Unless  the  expression  of  this  instinct  is 
blocked  by  an  insuperable  obstacle,  her 
flight  continues  until  the  emotional  force 
is  exhausted.  If  the  flight  is  blocked,  the 
instinct  of  escape  is  immediately  replaced 
by  the  newly  aroused  instinct  of  pugna- 
city, and  she  quite  as  inevitably  fights. 
But  all  of  this  presumably  without  choice 
or  without  reason. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  human  being 
presides  over  the  conflict  of  his  own  in- 


34  JUST  NERVES 

stincts,  felt  by  him  as  a  conflict  of  emotions. 
He  presides  over  this  conflict  with  intelli- 
gence and  with  a  consciousness  of  the 
power  and  necessity  of  choice.  This  would 
be  a  comparatively  simple  process  if  it 
consisted  merely  of  choosing  which  in- 
stinct was  to  have  expression ;  or  if  it  were 
only  a  matter  of  choosing  which  was  the 
most  expedient  manner  of  obeying  that 
instinct;  whether  hiding,  running,  or 
"  playing  'possum  "  would  satisfy  the  sit- 
uation. The  strongest  instinct  would  al- 
ways win,  and  it  would  be  merely  a  mat- 
ter of  adding  intelligent  planning  to  in- 
stinctive action  to  make  that  action  more 
effective.  However,  fortunately  or  unfor- 
tunately the  other  great  element  which  I 
mentioned  comes  in  with  its  demands  — 
namely,  the  spiritual.  The  ideal  of  service 
and  self-sacrifice  may  demand  of  a  man, 
whose  instincts  would  drive  him  simply 
and  quickly  away  from  danger,  that  he 
shall  stand  fast  and  neither  hide  nor  "  play 
'possum,"  but  sacrifice  himself  without 


HUMAN  BEHAVIOR  35 

recompense  of  any  sort,  except  the  spirit- 
ual, even  to  complete  self-destruction.  It 
is  when  intelligence  and  will  are  used,  to 
realize  an  ideal  through  an  action  which  is 
contrary  to  instinctive  demands,  that  ani- 
mal behavior  rises  to  the  dignity  of  human 
conduct.  To  keep  instinctive  forces  under 
the  intelligent  control  of  the  will,  in  order 
to  realize  through  these  very  forces  our 
ideals  —  that  is  to  live  a  civilized  life,  a 
happy  life,  and  furthermore  a  healthy  life. 


Ill 

MODERN  LIFE  AND  THE 
OVER-SENSITIVE 


Ill 

MODERN  LIFE  AND  THE 
OVER-SENSITIVE 

THE  inherent  instinctive  outfit  of  man,  it 
is  safe  to  assume,  is  very  much  the  same, 
very  little  altered  since  history  began.  He 
is  very  much  the  same  animal  as  he  has  al- 
ways been.  He  has  the  same  reflexes,  the 
same  instincts,  the  same  primary  emotions, 
and  probably  very  much  the  same  intelli- 
gence as  he  has  always  had.  In  short,  dur- 
ing the  history  of  civilization  this  original 
outfit  —  all  of  these  fundamental  inherent 
elements  —  has  presumably  been  changed 
but  little.  But  his  environment  —  that 
has  changed  enormously  and  with  great 
rapidity.  The  mode  of  life  in  a  single  gen- 
eration has  often  changed  from  that  of 
primitive  man  fighting  for  survival  in  a 
frontier  wilderness  to  the  highly  civilized 
and  complex  existence  of  city  life. 


40  JUST  NERVES 

The  physical  elements  of  man's  envi- 
ronment, it  is  true,  have  changed  greatly 
during  the  progress  of  history,  but  these 
changes  are  not  of  a  kind  to  tax  his  adap- 
tation severely.  To  be  free  from  the  hard- 
ships of  hunger  and  cold  and  exhaustion ; 
to  be  warm,  well-fed  and  well-housed,  and 
no  longer  subject  to  exhausting  physical 
strains,  requires  a  very  little  and  a  very 
simple  sort  of  adaptation.  But  the  social 
complexity,  the  multiplication  of  tempt- 
ing opportunities  that  such  physical 
changes  imply  —  these  do  tax  his  power  of 
intelligent  adaptation.  The  social  factors 
have  undergone  an  enormous  change, 
from  primitive  simplicity  to  their  present 
complexity  and  rapidity,  and  it  is  this 
rather  than  the  physical  change  which 
makes  adaptation  difficult.  Physical  com- 
fort and  safety,  it  would  seem,  have  been 
won  through  multiplying  the  mental  jmd 
moral  risks. 

Ease  of  communication  by  rapid  tran- 
sit, telephone,  telegraph,  labor-saving  de- 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    41 

vices,  and  all  sorts  of  time  and  space  anni- 
hilators,  are  the  things  which,  in  my 
opinion,  are  largely  responsible  for  our 
difficulties  of  adjustment.  These  labor- 
and  time-saving  devices  are  highly  benefi- 
cial in  themselves  —  as  labor-saving  de- 
vices. They  broaden  one's  horizon,  multi- 
ply one's  opportunities,  and  are  capable  of 
saving  much  energy  and  of  conserving 
leisure,  if  wisely  used.  Only  when  they  are 
used  as  leisure-killers,  only  when  we  allow 
them  to  tempt  us  into  trying  to  do  three 
things  at  once,  making  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  only  one  grew  before;  only 
when  we  use  them  to  accomplish  the  im- 
possible, to  crowd  a  life's  work  into  a  few 
years  —  are  they  harmful ;  but  then  they 
become  the  very  instruments  of  the  Devil. 
Think  of  the  difference  between  the 
mental  processes  of  the  modern  business 
man  and  those  of  his  old-fashioned  proto- 
type of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  that 
golden  and  primitive  past,  whole  days 
would  be  consumed  in  the  completion  of 


42  JUST  NERVES 

an  only  moderately  important  business 
transaction.  A  good  bit  of  friendly  inter- 
course and  social  entertainment,  much  that 
was  gracious  in  manner  and  speech,  form 
to  the  point  of  elaboration,  were  consid- 
ered assets  in  those  courtly  olden  days. 
Such  time-consuming  processes  were  part 
and  parcel  of  the  old-time  merchant's  busi- 
ness activity.  There  probably  was  no  such 
thing  as  the  chronically  tired  business  man, 
for  everything  he  did  was  comfortably 
packed  about  and  upholstered  with  little 
pleasant,  healthful  things  that  took  time. 
Compare  the  old-fashioned  picture  with 
what  we  are  familiar  with  in  the  modern 
business  man's  office.  He  arrives  by  rapid 
transit,  elevated,  automobile,  or  what- 
not, or  even  by  airplane,  at  a  huge  noisy 
structure  which  he  enters,  joining  a 
crowded,  hurrying  stream  of  other  preoc- 
cupied speed  maniacs.  Having  taken  not 
more  than  perhaps  a  hundred  steps  since 
breakfast,  he  is  shot  upward  at  a  terrific 
rate,  probably  in  an  express  elevator,  and 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    43 

is  hastily  ejected  at  the  twentieth  story 
within  a  half-dozen  steps  of  his  office. 
There,  if  his  organization  is  "  up-to-date," 
he  will  find  things  already  started,  per- 
haps going  full  tilt.  His  mail  is  already 
opened,  even  sorted  for  him.  He  does  not 
waste  the  fraction  of  a  minute  between 
shedding  his  hat  and  coat  and  beginning  to 
dictate  his  replies  and  give  his  orders. 
Even  while  dictating,  he  will  hold  not  one 
but  several  conversations  of  importance 
on  the  telephone,  and  before  finishing 
these  it  is  more  than  likely  that  he  will 
be  starting  a  third  activity  of  some 
sort,  such  as  interviewing  a  client.  In 
short,  he  does  probably  in  an  hour,  of 
what  to  him  is  an  ordinary  business  day, 
as  much  as  the  old-fashioned  chap  did  in  a 
week.  Does  he  leave  the  office  any  earlier 
because  of  this  wonderful  speed?  Does  he 
gain  leisure?  No,  indeed;  he  stays  just  as 
long  or  longer,  but  he  makes  more  money. 
It  hardly  needs  scientific  argument  to 
prove  which  type  of  life  means  longevity, 


44  JUST  NERVES 

let  alone  contentment,  happiness,  and 
health. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  the  modern 
citizen  is  less  intelligent  or  is  less  wise  than 
his  forefathers.  On  the  contrary,  I  believe 
that  the  problem  is  far  more  hopeful,  for 
I  am  sure  that  he  is  just  as  wise,  just  as 
intelligent,  and  has  all  the  wisdom  of  his 
forefathers'  accumulated  experience  to 
draw  on,  if  only  he  would.  But  I  think  it 
is  clear  without  argument  that,  be  he  wiser 
or  less  wise,  his  modern  environment  calls 
for  the  exercise  of  greater  wisdom,  for 
greater  adaptability,  than  was  necessary  a 
century  or  more  ago.  Obviously  there  is 
greater  speed,  greater  emotional  strain,  a 
greater  tendency  to  let  quantity  of  effort 
spoil  the  quality  of  life.  In  short,  the  great 
wealth  of  opportunity  is  fraught  with  the 
danger  of  a  greatly  increased  temptation 
to  unwisdom. 

Yet  it  is  true  that  normal,  evenly  bal- 
anced people —  that  is,  the  great  majority 
of  people  —  can  and  do  most  successfully 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    45 

adapt  themselves  to  these  entirely  extra- 
ordinary factors  of  modern  life.  But  to 
the  inherently  over-sensitive  individuals 
this  present  environment  of  ours  offers  in- 
creasingly tempting  dangers  and  pitfalls. 
For  the  hypersensitive,  more  emotional 
person  tends  to  ou^r-react,  especially  to 
things  which  normally  produce  mark- 
edly painful  or  markedly  pleasurable 
emotions  in  most  of  us,  and  especially  to 
avoid  such  things  as  produce  markedly 
painful  reactions.  Thus  the  behavior  of  a 
certain  minority  of  people  tends  to  be  im- 
pulsive, emotional,  instinctive.  It  tends," 
therefore,  to  be  unplanned,  hurried,  in- 
complete and  superficial,  and  clashes  with 
the  strident,  speedful  world  of  the  pres- 
ent. Instead  of  guiding  themselves  wisely 
among  the  environmental  difficulties,  they 
succumb  to  its  temptations  and  dangers. 
These  over-sensitive  and  over-emotional 
people  tend  to  act  according  to  how  they 
feel,  and  then  to  apply  judgment  and  will 
only  when  it  is  practically  too  late. 


46  JUST  NERVES 

Wishes  and  fears  tend  to  distort 
thoughts.  We  all  tend  to  believe  rather 
what  we  wish  were  true  than  what  is  true. 
But  when  this  characteristic  is  exagger- 
ated, perhaps  chiefly  through  lack  of 
training,  it  obviously  makes  for  poor  ad- 
justment to  the  world  as  it  is,  and  malad- 
justment leads  directly  to  malcontent^ 
Malcontent  frequently  expresses  itself  in 
the  pseudo-philosophies  and  cults  which 
describe  the  world,  not  as  it  is,  but  as  they 
wish  it  were. 

The  nihilist  and  anarchist,  the  parlor 
Bolshevik,  the  cubist,  and  the  free  love 
doctrinaire  are  examples  of  essentially 
maladjusted  and  discontented  people. 
They  imagine  a  world  which  in  each  case 
shall  contain  the  element  which  they  most 
crave  personally,  and  a  world  also  which 
shall  be  free  from  the  obstacles  to  achieve- 
ment and  obstructions  to  self-expression 
which  they  have  found  most  difficult,  and 
most  annoying.  A  world  of  commerce 
without  money,  capital,  or  labor,  without 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    47 

management  or  competition.  A  social 
world  without  laws  or  customs.  A  world, 
in  short,  without  those  restrictions  and  ne- 
cessities to  which  they  have  found  adjust- 
ment difficult,  and  which  they  wrongly 
blame  for  their  own  mediocrity  or  lack  of 
success.  A  world  where  their  weaknesses 
shall  be  assets,  where  their  supposed 
strengths  shall  make  them  leaders  without 
competition  or  effort. 

These  people  are  essentially  neuras- 
thenic; that  is,  they  are  nervous.  If  they 
could  be  given  self-knowledge,  it  would 
cure  all  of  them,  and  they  would  then  find 
contentment  and  happiness  in  accepting 
their  world  as  it  is  as  the  basic  starting- 
point  for  good  work,  as  the  raw  material 
out  of  which  to  forge  success* 

As  an  example  of  how  ignorance  of  the 
essentials  of  a  problem  in  personal  adjust- 
ment leads  to  a  poor  solution,  war  neurosis 
is  most  instructive.  (This  condition,  by  the 
way,  is  often  misnamed  shell  shock,  for 
the  shock  of  a  near-by  exploding  shell  is 


48  JUST  NERVES 

only  very  rarely  associated  with~the  be- 
ginning of  the  disorder.)  A  man,  usually 
somewhat  hypersensitive  to  his  own  emo- 
tions, often  with  an  essentially  timid  per- 
sonality, finds  himself  in  a  position  of  ex- 
treme danger,  or  if  not  actually  in  the  po- 
sition of  danger,  on  his  way  toward  it. 
His  ideals  of  honor,  of  service,  and  of 
loyalty  push  him  onward  toward  the  goal 
from  which  his  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, through  the  emotion  of  fear,  is  doing 
its  best  to  hold  him  back.  Through  mis- 
conception he  has  learned  to  consider  fear 
as  synonymous  with  cowardice.  His  own 
essential  self-esteem  excludes  cowardice 
from  his  idea  of  self.  Indeed,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  he  knows  he  is  not  a  coward. 
Therefore,  it  is  impossible  for  him  in  the 
face  of  this  prejudice  to  recognize  or  ac- 
knowledge the  presence  of  fear.  Fear, 
however,  is  what  every  normal  man  must 
feel  when  in  danger,  and,  furthermore, 
this  emotion,  like  all  emotions,  is  not  just 
a  mental  state,  but  is  actually  also  a  bodily 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    49 

state,  a  state  of  mobilization  of  bodily 
forces,  a  state  of  preparation  for  immedi- 
ate flight,  and  it  has  very  marked  and  no- 
ticeable physical  signs.  Among  these  are 
a  rapid  and  often  irregular  heart,  tremor 
of  the  muscles,  a  dry  mouth  and  disturb- 
ances of  the  stomach  and  intestines.  He 
cannot  help  being  disturbed  by  these  phys- 
ical disorders,  which,  largely  because  they 
are  neither  understood  nor  recognized,  be- 
come exaggerated.  They  finally  consti- 
tute a  bodily  condition  which  becomes  the 
innocent  focus  of  his  fear.  Fear  of  break- 
ing down  physically  he  can  recognize  and 
can  acknowledge  without  prejudice  to  his 
character.  He  can  with  spiritual  safety  be 
afraid  that  his  physical  condition  will  in- 
terfere with  his  carrying  out  his  ideal  of 
service.  In  short,  he  can  recognize  a  fear 
of  failure  from  bodily  causes  over  which 
he  has  no  control,  whereas,  in  his  igno- 
rance, he  cannot  acknowledge  that  he  is 
afraid  of  being  killed  or  horribly  maimed. 
The  emotional  state  becomes  ever  more 


50  JUST  NERVES 

tense,  its  physical  symptoms  more  marked, 
until  they  dominate  the  picture,  and  he  is 
actually  disabled  by  disordered  or  para- 
lyzed bodily  function.  The  deadlock  of  the 
conflict  between  his  ideal  of  service  and 
his  instinct  of  escape  is  incidentally  broken 
by  the  condition  produced  by  the  emotion, 
for  that  condition  makes  it  physically  im- 
possible for  him  to  go  on,  and  much 
against  his  will  he  is  ordered  to  the  rear — 
a  case  of  "  shell  shock." 

Had  he  known  that  fear  is  the  one  oc- 
casion and  the  only  occasion  for  courage, 
and  that  it  is  not  synonymous  with  cow- 
ardice ;  had  he  had  sufficient  knowledge  of 
his  own  psychology  to  have  recognized 
fear  as  part  of  the  normal  and  universal 
reaction  of  any  human  being  to  danger, 
and  that  courage  is  the  spirit  in  which  one 
does  things  in  the  face  of  fear  —  his  prob- 
lem would  have  been  a  very  simple  one; 
namely,  whether  or  not  he  could  do  his 
duty,  even  in  spite  of  being  filled  with 
fear.  He  might  have  had — probably 


LIFE  AND  THE  OVER-SENSITIVE    51 

would  have  had  —  a  short  but  decisive 
moral  struggle,  but  he  would  have  brought 
his  will  to  bear  upon  a  clean-cut,  soluble 
problem,  and  he  would  undoubtedly  have 
gone  through  successfully. 

The  same  is  exactly  true  of  the  more 
complicated  neuroses  of  ordinary  civil  life. 
Knowledge  of  the  factors  of  the  problem 
of  adjustment  is  the  first  step  and  the  ab- 
solutely essential  step  toward  a  successful 
solution ;  and,  as  in  war  neurosis,  given  the 
requisite  knowledge,  we  can  be  quite  sure 
of  finding  the  strong  desire,  the  will  to  get 
well,  ready  to  apply  itself  to  the  problem 
as  soon  as  the  latter  can  be  made  clear  and 
definitive* 


IV 

CHILDHOOD  TRAINING 


IV 

CHILDHOOD  TRAINING 

To  prevent  the  occurrence  of  "nervous- 
ness" is,  then,  obviously  the  problem  of 
preventing  maladjustment.  Whether 
tender-mindedness  is  acquired  by  early 
contagion  from  nervous  elders,  by  lack  of 
training  as  in  a  spoiled  child,  or  is  partly 
inherited,  may  be  left  as  an  academic  ques- 
tion. However  this  and  other  elements 
that  make  for  nervousness  may  arise,  it  is 
the  business  of  Mental  Hygiene  to  recog- 
nize these  elements  as  early  as  may  be,  so 
that,  being  recognized,  they  may  be  trained 
from  being  liabilities  to  being  assets.  The 
time  for  this  recognition  and  training  is  in 
childhood,  for  it  is  then  that  the  seed  of 
nervousness  is  sown. 

I  believe  that  the  following  are  the  most 
important  of  these  elements  which  tend 
toward  nervousness  on  the  one  hand  and 


56  JUST  NERVES 

are  particularly  amenable  to  training  on 
the  other. 

The  temperamental  tendency  to  being 
over-sensitive  to  the  markedly  painful  or 
markedly  pleasant  emotions  and  sensa- 
tions is  perhaps  the  most  common  and 
fundamental  element  which,  if  unrecog- 
nized and  uncorrected,  makes  for  later 
nervous  breakdowns.  This  element  is 
recognizable  even  in  the  early  months  of 
life.  Whether  it  be  inherited  in  part  or  in 
whole,  or  merely  acquired  by  circum- 
stances, is  not  important  to  our  present 
discussion.  That  it  is  recognizable  in  very 
young  children  is  most  important,  for  this 
fact  presents  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
hopeful  opportunities  for  training. 

All  of  us,  especially  when  we  are  chil- 
dren, are  sensitive  to  our  own  emotions  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent  and  are  especially 
appreciative  of  the  pleasurable  emotions. 
But  a  certain  proportion  of  children  are 
otter-sensitive  to  emotions,  particularly  to 
painful  emotions.  They  give  physical  evi- 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          57 

dence  of  this  extra  sensibility  by  over-re- 
acting physically  to  correction,  disappro- 
val, and  punishment.  They  show  the  over- 
reaction  most  often  not  only  in  being  over- 
prone  to  weep,  but  also  in  disturbances  of 
digestion  and  circulation.  They  may  lose 
their  appetites,  their  bowels  may  become 
disturbed,  or  they  may  even  react  emo- 
tionally to  painful  situations  by  an  attack 
of  vomiting. 

On  the  side  of  circulation,  they  are  the 
children  who  blush  and  blanch  easily. 
They  may  also  show  an  over-excitability 
of  their  kidneys  and  sweat  glands.  In 
short,  they  perspire  too  easily  under  ex- 
citement, cry  too  easily,  and  likewise  their 
overactive  kidneys,  under  the  same  cir- 
cumstances, may  lead  to  one  of  the  most 
embarrassing  accidents  of  childhood.  Too 
often  this  latter  unavoidable  accident 
meets  with  severe  and  unjust  punishment. 

On  the  mental  side  they  show  a  greater 
dependence  than  normal  on  praise  and  ap- 
proval and  especially  an  exaggerated  sen- 


58  JUST  NERVES 

sitiveness  to  disapproval.  They  show  the 
latter  by  avoiding  conflict  with  authority 
as  much  as  possible,  either  by  exagger- 
atedly good  behavior  or  by  deception  and 
lying.  Their  repulsion  to  the  disagreeable 
— whether  it  have  to  do  with  the  touch  of 
a  disagreeable  surface  or  substance  or  a 
disagreeable  taste,  or  with  being  too 
easily  and  too  markedly  influenced  to 
avoidance  of  such  things  as  may  arouse 
in  them  a  painful  emotion,  such  as  fear  — 
is  evident  and  conspicuous. 

These  signs  of  the  over-sensitive  tem- 
perament, as  I  say,  are  easily  recognized 
in  early  childhood  and  call  for  definite 
training.  Usually  they  are  noticed  but 
rarely  are  they  understood,  and  often 
quite  the  wrong  training  is  applied.  Pun- 
ishments are  made  too  drastic ;  or  the  par- 
ents sedulously  plan  to  avoid  all  discipline 
wherever  possible  and  so  to  arrange  the 
environment  for  the  child  as  to  avoid 
wherever  possible  the  production  of  fear 
or  any  other  disagreeable  reaction.  Both 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          59 

of  these  extremes  are  apt  to  lead  to  the 
same  result,  namely,  an  increase  in  the 
sensitiveness,  a  further  accentuation  of  the 
very  handicap  which  they  are  intended  to 
remove. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  training  should 
have  in  view  the  distinct  object  of  mould- 
ing the  sensitiveness  itself  into  a  useful 
force.  The  first  steps  of  this  training  are 
to  give  the  child  a  true  valuation  to  tol- 
erance of  the  disagreeable,  and  to  help  him 
to  a  realization  of  the  naturalness  and  nor- 
mality of  the  emotion  of,  let  us  say,  fear, 
which  only  needs  a  little  courage  to  com- 
bat it.  At  the  same  time,  an  appreciation 
of  the  necessity  and  importance  of  adapt- 
ing himself  to  the  needs  of  his  play-fellows 
can  be  aroused  through  stimulating  his  in- 
terest in  team-play  which  makes  a  good 
basis  for  normal  courage.  For  instance, 
instead  of  telling  a  child  that  he  is  silly 
to  be  afraid  to  go  into  the  dark  room,  that 
there  is  nothing  there  to  hurt  him,  that  he 
ought  not  to  be  afraid,  or  that  he  is  a  baby 


60  JUST  NERVES 

to  be  afraid,  he  should  be  told  that  of 
course  he  is  afraid,  that  lots  of  other  chil- 
dren are  afraid  of  the  dark,  even  though 
there  is  nothing  to  be  afraid  of.  He  should 
be  shown  that  being  afraid  is  one  of  those 
disagreeable  things  that  we  can  get  over 
by  not  thinking  too  much  of  it,  and  that,  at 
all  events,  he  is  of  course  going  into  the 
dark  room  to  get  the  game  or  book  he 
wants,  because  he  wants  it.  He  can  thus 
be  shown,  by  the  actual  demonstration  of 
going  into  the  dark  room  and  getting  the 
desired  game  in  spite  of  fear,  in  the  first 
place  how  harmless  that  little  fear  of  his 
really  is,  and  in  the  second  how  compara- 
tively easy  and  fully  worth  while  it  was  to 
get  the  game.  A  little  victory,  but  lots  of 
fun  when  won.  Every  effort  should  be 
made,  in  other  words,  to  accentuate  the 
importance  and  desirability,  the  satisfac- 
tion and  fun,  in  free  objective  action  in 
spite  of,  rather  than  because  of,  sensitive- 
ness. Every  effort  should  be  made  to  make 
the  interest  in  doing  things  and  the  results 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          61 

of  doing  things  always  stronger  and  more 
enticing  than  the  abnormal  and  introspec- 
tive interests  that  the  child  may  have  in  his 
own  emotional  reactions. 

Such  training,  for  instance,  is  quite  cap- 
able of  turning  timidity  into  habitual 
courage,  sympathetic  pain  into  the  profes- 
sional understanding  and  practical  pur- 
posive sympathy  of  the  genuine  physician 
or  nurse.  Such  training  can  transmute 
sensitiveness  to  color  or  sensitiveness  to 
sound  into  intelligent  appreciation  and 
thus  make  of  it  the  professional  under- 
standing of  the  successful  artist  or  musi- 
cian. One  can  turn  this  sensitiveness  by 
such  training  into  useful  objective  appre- 
ciation of  the  physical  and  social  environ- 
ment, including  the  needs  of  others.  Thus 
a  liability  can  be  turned  into  an  asset. 
y  The  second  element  making  for  ner- 
vousness, which  is,  as  you  will  see,  largely 
dependent  on  the  first,  is  disturbance  of 
the  balance  of  instincts.  By  this  I  mean 
an  over-prominence,  an  over-irritability  of 


62  JUST  NERVES 

one  or  more  of  the  instincts  over  the 
others.  Usually  this  also  is  recognizable  in 
very  early  life  and  the  temperamental 
sensitiveness  just  described  is  always  as- 
sociated with  it.  Indeed,  it  is  the  instinc- 
tive force  which  gives  sensitiveness  specific 
form. 

Usually  the  instincts  of  self-preserva- 
tion, escape  and  pugnacity,  one,  some- 
times both  of  them,  with  their  respective 
emotions  of  fear  and  anger,  are  the  mov- 
ing forces  in  the  second  element  making 
for  maladaptation.  This  specific  sort  of 
sensitiveness  is  indeed  easy  to  recognize  at 
an  early  stage.  Who  cannot  recognize  even 
in  infancy  the  markedly  timid  or  the 
markedly  pugnacious  personality  in  a 
child?  The  timid,  shrinking  child  and  the 
irritable,  pugnacious  child,  subject  to  fits 
of  temper,  are  too  well  known  both  physi- 
cally and  mentally  to  need  further  de- 
scription. The  former  I  think  is  more  apt 
to  be  headed  for  nervousness  than  the  lat- 
ter, though  even  the  latter,  if  he  be  of 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          63 

sensitive  temperament,  is  a  neurotic  risk. 
The  training  of  this  element,  if  not  easy, 
is  certainly  plain.  The  child  must  be 
taught  to  acknowledge  the  presence  of  the 
emotion,  whether  it  be  anger  or  fear  or 
whatever.  He  must  learn  to  treat  it,  not 
as  an  enemy,  but  as  a  natural  part  of  him- 
self. He  must  not  be  taught  to  deny  its 
existence  or  to  make-believe  through  re- 
pression that  it  does  not  exist.  He  must  be 
taught  to  say  to  himself,  "I  am  mad,  or 
I  am  afraid,  but  I  can  do  as  I  choose  " ; 
and  he  must  be  held  responsible  for  that 
choice.  Gradually  his  interest  in  growing 
up  to  be  an  effective  actor,  an  effective 
performer  of  acts  of  which  he  approves, 
must  be  built  up.  Coincidentally  good- 
natured  contempt  for  his  own  emotions 
should  be  established;  that  is,  contempt 
for  the  painful  element  in  emotion  and 
sensation.  To  be  a  "good  sport"  rather 
than  a  slave  of  fear  or  anger  must  be  made 
an  understandable  and,  furthermore,  an 
attractive  proposition.  To  make  disci- 


64  JUST  NERVES 

pline  seem  always  to  be  self-discipline 
rather  than  superimposed,  I  believe  to  be 
an  important  point.  Punishment  as  far  as 
possible,  perhaps  always,  should  be  to  the 
child  as  much  as  possible  an  obviously  in- 
evitable result  of  his  own  action  rather 
than  the  outgiving  of  the  judgment, 
backed  up  by  the  power,  of  that  superior 
being,  his  parent.  The  parent  should 
stand  to  him  rather  as  a  wise  friend,  whose 
judgment  he  believes  in  and  wants  to  fol- 
low, than  as  the  strong  arm  that  carries 
out  a  little  understood  law.  I  believe  these 
rules  hold  good  no  matter  what  over-active 
instinct  we  are  dealing  with,  whether  it  be 
the  instinct  of  escape,  of  pugnacity,  or 
even  the  sex  instinct/Our  object  is  to  train 
the  child  to  guide  the  energies  and  impulses 
supplied  him  by  his  instincts,  not  to  deny 
nor  suppress  them,  and  above  all  not  to  be 
subject  or  slave  to  them.)  In  short,  the  ob- 
ject of  training  is  to  make  a  civilized  citi- 
zen out  of  a  little,  perhaps  overly  strong, 
animal. 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          65 

The  third  item  in  the  personal  equation 
which  needs  recognition  and  calls  for 
training  appears  later  in  life  than  the  first 
two.  It  has  to  do  with  difficulty  in  reali- 
zation of  the  spiritual  element  where 
either  ideals  are  unformed  or  fail  in  ade- 
quate expression  because  of  instinctive  or 
temperamental  obstacles.  For  lack  of  a 
better  term  I  will  call  this  character  fault 
or  weakness.  The  signs  of  this  tendency 
are  absent  from  the  physical  point  of  view, 
except  perhaps  in  the  matter  of  those  in- 
definite signs  of  facial  expression  and 
form  which  we  rightly  or  wrongly  attrib- 
ute to  strength  or  weakness  of  character, 
such  as  the  "  square  "  jaw,  the  "  loose  "  lip, 
or  the  "  wavering  "  eye.  The  element,  how- 
ever, can  be  definitely  recognized  by  a 
comparison  of  the  individual's  behavior 
with  his  professed  ideals,  and  by  noting  a 
prominent  feature  which  is  always  there, 
namely,  unreliability.  People  with  sensi- 
tive temperaments  and  unbalance  of  in- 
stincts always  remind  me  of  an  electrical 


G3  JUST  NERVES 

apparatus  which  is  suffering  from  a  ten- 
dency to  short  circuit.  A  person  with 
character  faults,  on  the  other  hand,  re- 
sembles an  electrical  apparatus  where  the 
wires  just  fail  to  make  connection  and  the 
current  of  energy  from  the  ideal  to  the  ap- 
paratus of  expression  fails  to  get  through. 
They  know  theoretically  what  is  right, 
they  are  not  moral  idiots,  but  they  fail  to 
make  good  their  ideals  in  action  with  any 
reliability. 

The  training  of  this  tendency  takes 
perhaps  more  tact,  more  delicacy  of  touch, 
and  more  sympathy  than  do  all  the  others, 
for  it  calls  for  practical  moral  training, 
and  by  this  I  do  not  mean  continual  pun- 
ishments nor  old-fashioned  "moral  sua- 
sion," which  no  doubt  has  its  place,  nor 
picturing  in  lurid  colors  the  "way  of  the 
transgressor."  It  consists  rather  in  show- 
ing the  adolescent  child  how  his  technique 
has  failed,  just  where  a  little  determina- 
tion would  have  made  the  connection;  in 
showing  the  practical  advantages  of  regu- 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING         67 

larfty  both  physical  and  mental,  the  effi- 
ciencies to  be  attained  by  a  planned  life, 
the  ease  to  be  gained  by  the  momentum  of 
regular  habits,  and  last  but  not  least  the 
fundamental  necessity  to  him  of  content- 
ment above  comfort,  of  happiness  above 
pleasure;  and  finally  in  proving  that  these 
can  be  attained  only  by  running  the  ordi- 
nary ideals  of  life  straight  through  the  in- 
stinctive apparatus  to  practical  everyday 
action. 

There  is  a  fourth  type  of  disorder  which 
tends  to  nervousness  which  is  important 
enough  to  afford  a  separate  classification. 
The  human  young,  unlike  the  young  of 
the  other  animals,  tend  to  develop  irregu- 
larly. The  intellectual  side  of  a  child  may 
develop  far  ahead  of  the  physical  and  even 
of  the  moral.  This  irregularity  is  not  hard 
to  recognize,  especially  not  by  the  proud 
parent  who  is  only  too  ready  to  acknowl- 
edge precocity  of  intellect  in  his  own  off- 
spring. Unfortunately,  only  too  often  the 


68  JUST  NERVES 

proud  parent,  instead  of  turning  such  a 
child's  energies  more  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  those  elements  which  are  lagging 
behind,  namely,  the  physical,  will,  in  his 
pride  and  delight  in  the  child's  cleverness, 
push  his  already  over-developed  intellect 
to  further  precocity.  In  extreme  cases  the 
"infant  phenomenon"  is  developed,  who 
rarely  if  ever  escapes  an  even  more  serious 
breakdown  than  common  nervousness. 
Obviously  the  training  of  such  a  child 
should  be  aimed  toward  balancing  his  de- 
velopment by  increasing  his  physical 
strength  and  well-being.  Out-of-door 
games  and  exercises  and  interest  in  nature 
studies  should  be  emphasized,  rather 
than  progress  in  mathematics;  woodcraft 
rather  than  Latin.  All  of  this  can  be  done 
without  any  undue  neglect  of  the  purely 
intellectual  development.  Indeed,  it  would 
surely  be  just  the  right  kind  of  intellectual 
development  for  the  physically  backward 
child  to  turn  his  interest  and  reasoning 
power  toward  the  phenomena  of  nature 
and  his  own  growing  physical  prowess. 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING         69 

When  the  physical  development  is  ob- 
viously ahead  of  the  intellectual,  which  is 
easily  discovered  by  the  child  having  to 
study  harder  and  getting  poorer  results 
than  the  average  —  usually  to  the  unrea- 
sonable despair  of  his  parents  —  then  the 
intellectual  and  moral  side  of  the  individu- 
ality call  for  development;  but  this  can 
be  done  only  gradually,  not  suddenly. 
Regularity  of  life  in  these  cases  is  particu- 
larly important.  The  child  should  be 
taught  to  guide  the  instinctive  forces  into 
purposive  channels  by  gradually  introduc- 
ing simple  objective,  purposive,  mental 
effort  in  relation  to  outdoor  play  and  ex- 
ercise, of  which  such  a  child  is  probably  al- 
ready fond.  More  important  than  even 
constructive  play  is  constructive  work, 
both  mental  and  manual,  and  for  such 
children  the  educational  value  of  physics, 
mathematics,  and,  above  all,  of  manual 
training,  cannot  be  over-estimated.  Grad- 
ually to  stimulate  interest  in  achievement, 
gradually  to  arouse  curiosity  in  the 


70  JUST  NERVES 

"  why  "  of  the  things  which  the  child  up  to 
then  has  merely  taken  animal  pleasure  in, 
by  stimulating  interest  in  nature  and 
nature's  laws,  and  gradually  working 
through  biology  to  other  sciences,  is  gently 
to  lead  intellectual  development  on  apace, 
till  it  matches  the  physical. 

When  the  moral  element  lags  behind, 
the  same  method  of  treatment  should  be 
employed  as  I  have  roughly  outlined  as 
appropriate  for  character  faults.  But  we 
should  be  especially  careful  not  to  harden 
by  constant  and  severe  disapproval.  We 
should  try  in  every  way  to  accentuate  our 
appreciation  and  approval  wherever  we 
can  find  even  a  slight  excuse  for  it,  in 
something  well  done  and  for  a  good  pur- 
pose. You  can  always  depend  upon  it 
that  the  child  will  react  toward  and  will  be 
attracted  to  the  pleasurable  emotions 
aroused  by  approval  and  praise,  as  read- 
ily, at  least,  as  he  reacts  away  from  the 
pain  of  displeasure  and  disapproval.  In 
short,  we  must  show  the  child  who  is  back- 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING         71 

ward  in  moral  development  that  it  pays  to 
be  good,  and  to  do  this  we  must  praise 
every  good  point;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
disapproval,  when  we  show  it,  must  be 
shown  only  for  a  purpose  and  not  because 
we  are  angry.  It  is  only  through  utmost 
patience  and  always  sympathetic  effort 
that  we  can  hope  to  make  social  adapta- 
tion seem  a  worth-while  process  and  a  ne- 
cessity to  the  morally  backward  child.  To 
make  moral  response  habitual  and  reliable 
must  be  not  only  a  labor  of  love,  but  one 
of  unwavering  faith  and  patience. 

Modern  life,  especially  the  life  of  the 
well-to-do,  is  in  many  ways  poor  training, 
very  poor  mental  hygiene,  for  the  growing 
child.  It  presents  too  much  superimposed 
entertainment.  This  entertainment,  fur- 
thermore, has  excitement  rather  than 
healthful  pleasure  as  its  main  objective. 
Movies  and  theater  parties  might  be  all 
very  well,  but  are  they?  They  might 
be  opportunities  for  constructive  and  in- 


73  JUST  NERVES 

structive  play,  innocent  amusement  and 
interest,  but  usually  they  are  not.  In  the 
first  place,  such  entertainments  are  far  too 
frequent  in  the  average  child's  life,  and  in 
the  second  place,  they  result  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  not  in  interest,  but  excitement. 
Coupled  with  dances  lasting  to  all  hours 
of  the  night  they  constitute  an  active  men- 
ace to  the  child's  mental  health.  The  re- 
sult is  that  most  melancholy  sight  of  mod- 
ern times  —  the  over-old,  blase  young- 
ster who  demands  there  shall  and  must 
be  "something  doing"  every  moment. 
Through  no  fault  of  his  own,  he  has  de- 
veloped within  him  an  abnormal  appetite 
for  excitement,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on 
the  other,  a  pretty  complete  ignorance  of 
the  real  pleasures  of  play;  and  unless  he 
is  a  very  evenly  balanced,  stable,  indi- 
vidual he  is  fairly  on  his  way  to  become  a 
neurotic.  Public  playgrounds,  child  ath- 
letics, and  games  where  the  real  pleasure 
of  play  comes  from  the  successful  exercise 
of  energy,  make  for  health  and  stability, 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          73 

and  not  only  balance  work,  but  keep  the 
appetite  for  work,  for  achievement,  alive; 
whereas  movies  and  modern  superimposed 
entertainment,  with  just  excitement  as  an 
unacknowledged  goal,  make  for  unbal- 
ance, discontent,  and  nervousness. 

A  modern  child,  especially  a  girl,  is 
dangerously  apt  to  skip  from  the  mental 
and  social  age  of  twelve  almost  overnight 
to  that  of  eighteen.  This  forcing  process 
of  modern  social  life  suddenly  ejects  her 
from  innocent  childhood  into  the  status  of 
a  society  woman.  She  skips,  and  thus  loses 
utterly  those  wonderful  years  of  natural 
fun,  of  growth  of  interest,  of  development 
of  character,  of  the  gradual  unfolding  of 
the  knowledge  of  life;  those  wonderful 
"teens,"  which  should  be  lived  joyously 
and  as  slowly  as  may  be.  These  should  be 
the  years  of  the  most  valuable  formative 
training,  and  too  often  nowadays  are  they 
exploded  out  of  existence  by  the  forced 
high  tension  of  the  modern  regime.  These 
years  should  be  guarded,  should  be  utilized 


74  JUST  NERVES 

for  our  children's  gradual  growth  and 
development,  and  if  they  are  so  utilized 
they  will  cheat  the  nerve  specialist  of 
many  of  his  cases. 

I  have  dealt  with  Mental  Hygiene  only 
where  it  touches  my  subject,  Nervous- 
ness, its  causes  and  prevention.  I  have 
spoken  of  the  knowledge  already  extant, 
which  if  applied  would  in  my  opinion  pre- 
vent nervousness.  Much  of  this  knowl- 
edge you  will  see  is  quite  obvious,  long 
known,  not  original  nor  exciting.  True, 
but  that  probably  is  the  very  reason  it  has 
not  been  applied.  No  doubt  much  of  it  is 
tob  ordinary  or  too  obvious  to  invite  at- 
tention, and  no  doubt  has  therefore  been 
neglected. 

Most  often  nervousness  has  its  begin- 
nings in  childhood ;  therefore  it  is  in  child- 
hood that  preventive  training  should  be 
applied.  Obvious,  but  none  the  less  true. 

The  recognizable  symptoms  of  poten- 
tial nervousness  are : 


CHILDHOOD  TRAINING          75 

1.  Sensitiveness  to  the  disagreeable  and 
painful. 

2.  Overbalance  of  one  or  more  instincts. 

3.  Faults  in  application  of  intelligence 
and  ideal  to  instinctive  forces  (character 
faults) ;  and  lastly, 

4.  Uneyenness  in  the  relative  develop- 
ment of  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
sides  during  growth. 

One  or  more  of  these  is  always  the 
fundamental  cause  of  that  maladaptation 
called  nervousness.  It  is  obvious,  I  trust, 
that  early  recognition  is  not  only  neces- 
sary but  possible  to  all.  Obvious  or  not, 
it  is  the  truth. 

If  these  tendencies  should  be  and  can 
be  recognized,  to  overcome  their  influence, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  train  the  child  ac- 
cordingly and  this  then  becomes  largely  a 
matter  of  applying  common  sense  to  a 
clean-cut,  formulated  problem.  To  this 
end  all  of  us,  especially  parents  and  teach- 
ers, need  only  a  mere  working  knowledge 
of  everyday  psychology.  It  is  a  simple 


76  JUST  NERVES 

matter  to  apply  such  knowledge  in  the 
form  of  mental  hygiene,  to  the  upbringing 
of  our  children  as  well  as  to  the  ordering 
of  our  own  lives. 


V 

COMMON-SENSE  RULES 


COMMON-SENSE  RULES 

To  avoid  "  nervous  breakdowns  "  in  adult 
life  it  is  only  necessary  to  maintain  one's 
mental  and  moral  efficiency.  This  can  be 
made  a  simple,  straightforward  matter  by 
following  a  few  more  or  less  simple  and 
common-sense  rules.  These  rules  can  be 
readily  deduced  from  everyday  psychol- 
ogy and  common  experience.  If  adopted 
and  applied  steadily,  they  will  prove  be- 
yond a  doubt  that  "  nervousness  "  can  be 
avoided. 

Here  follow  a  few  such  practical  sug- 
gestions, more  or  less  formulated  specifics 
against  becoming  "nervous": 

1.  Neither  run  away  from  emotions  nor 
yet  fight  them.  Accept  them  as  the  well- 
springs  of  all  action.  They  are  your  auto- 
matically mobilized  energies,  and  you 
may,  within  very  wide  limits,  do  with 


80  JUST  NERVES 

them  what  you  choose.  You  may,  fur- 
thermore, do  what  you  choose,  again 
within  broad  limits,  in  the  way,  in  the 
manner,  in  which  you  choose  to  do  it.  By 
doing  what  you  choose,  in  the  way  you 
choose,  you  force  these  energies  into  the 
channels  of  your  choice.  It  is  like  guiding 
spirited  horses  —  you  guide,  they  obey,  not 
their  own  impulses,  but  your  will.  A  sim- 
ple suggestion,  but,  if  followed,  it  leads 
one  safely  away  from  the  dangers  of  sen- 
sitiveness and  unbalance  of  instinct. 

2.  Be  efficient  in  what  you  do.  First  ap- 
prove the  purpose  of  the  act,  then  perform 
that  act  in  a  manner  and  with  the  means 
that  are  appropriate  to  its  purpose.  Effi- 
ciency or  inefficiency  is  determined  by  the 
relation  between  effort  expended  and  re- 
sult obtained.  Obviously  the  result  must 
be  worth  the  effort.  Nothing  is  worth  do- 
ing that  is  not  worth  doing  well,  but 
"  well "  must  include  not  only  the  attain- 
ment of  the  gross  end  in  view,  but  it  must 
also  mean  attainment  without  waste  of 


COMMON-SENSE  RULES         81 

effort.  Quality  of  effort  appropriate  to 
the  end,  skill  rather  than  crude  force, 
means  efficiency.  In  short,  do  not  drive 
your  tacks  with  a  sledgehammer.  There  is 
a  better,  less  fatiguing  way.  Find  out  how 
easily  you  can  do  things  well,  and  take 
pride  in  such  skill. 

8.  Do  one  thing  at  a  time.  Only  thus 
can  we  practice  concentration.  By  con- 
centration I  do  not  mean  that  violent  over- 
dramatization  of  effort  usually  understood 
as  concentration,  but  the  gentle  art  of  con- 
trolling the  attention.  This  art  consists 
almost  entirely  of  many,  oft-repeated, 
small  acts  of  skillful  selection.  It  is  really 
no  more  than  gently  culling  from  the 
stream  of  thought  that  which  is  interesting 
and  relevant  to  the  object  of  the  moment, 
and  secondarily  discarding  all  else.  Above 
all,  it  is  not  a  violent,  sustained  moral 
effort. 

4.  Make  clean-cut  practical  decisions. 
To  be  clean-cut  they  must  deal  with  prob- 
lems clearly  stated  and  as  free  from  emo- 


82  JUST  NERVES 

tional  prejudice  as  may  be.  To  be  practi- 
cal they  must  deal  with  problems  of  pres- 
ent moment  and  relevancy,  with  probabil- 
ity rather  than  possibility,  with  the  con- 
crete rather  than  the  vague.  Finally  deci- 
sions must  be  valued,  not  as  irrevocable 
oaths  or  unretractable  contracts,  but  as 
mere  decisions,  subject  to  change  in  the 
face  of  new  facts  or  additional  knowledge. 

5.  Do  not  accept  hurry  as  a  necessary 
part  of  modern  life.  If  hurry  in  any  given 
case  becomes  necessary,  it  has  become  so 
solely  because  there  has  been  a  direful  lack 
of  plan,  or  because  tardiness  and  procras- 
tination have  spoiled  the  plan,  or  lastly  be- 
cause one  has  tried  to  crowd  two  or  more 
things  into  the  temporal  space  of  one. 
Quality  of  work,  not  quantity,  spells  suc- 
cess, and  quality  is  destroyed  by  hurry. 

6.  The  worst  enemy  of  efficiency,  as 
well  as  the  best  ally  of  nervousness,  is 
worry.  Worry  is  a  complete  circle  of  in- 
efficient thought  whirling  about  a  pivot  of 
fear.  To  avoid  it,  consider  first  whether 


COMMON-SENSE  RULES        83 

the  problem  in  hand  is  actually  your  busi- 
ness. If  it  is  not,  turn  to  something  that  is. 
If  it  is  your  business,  decide  next  whether 
it  be  your  business  now.  If  it  be  your  busi- 
ness and  your  business  now,  decide  what  is 
the  wisest  and  most  efficient  thing  to  do 
about  it.  If  you  know,  get  busy  and  do  it; 
if  you  do  not  know,  if  you  lack  knowledge, 
seek  the  knowledge  you  need  and  seek  it 
now.  Do  these  things,  and  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  anxiety  will  not  degenerate 
into  worry.  If  the  actual  probabilities  are 
so  very  bad  that  intense  anxiety  is  un- 
avoidable, nevertheless,  apply  this  me- 
chanical rule,  and  then  assert  your  faith 
and  your  courage;  realize  that  success  for 
you,  as  for  others,  is  always  an  approxi- 
mation of  the  ideal.  Then  rest  your  case 
on  the  determination  that  no  matter  how 
hard  things  may  turn  out  to  be,  you  will 
make  the  best  of  them  —  and  more  than 
that  no  man  can  do.  In  short,  common 
sense  can  put  worry  out  of  the  running  in 
most  cases,  but  always  faith  is  essential 
to  real  victory. 


84  JUST  NERVES 

7.  Keep  work,  play,  rest,  and  exercise 
in  their  proper  relative  proportions;  not 
only  in  the  space  of  decades,  but  year  by 
year,  month  by  month,  week  by  week,  and 
day  by  day.  Keep  these  items  separated. 
Work  when  you  work;  play  when  you 
play ;  and  do  nothing  when  you  rest.  Each 
item   has   its   daily   place,    and   a  well- 
planned  life  is  a  life  made  up  of  well- 
planned  days.   Such  a  life  absorbs  emer- 
gencies without  strain. 

8.  Shun  the  New  England  conscience. 
It  is  a  form  of  egotism  which  makes  a 
moral  issue  of  every  trivial  thought  or 
feeling.  Its  motive  is  self-defense,  defense 
of  self  from  the  possibility  of  guilt  or  con- 
sciousness of  moral  error.  It  takes  the  ad- 
venture out  of  life,  and  fills  it  instead  with 
endless  petty,   safety-first  devices,   clog- 
ging its  machinery  and  warping  it  out  of 
true.    To  live  fully  and  with  reasonable 
ease,  one  must  take  one's  own  fundamen- 
tal decency  more  or  less  for  granted,  and 
be  willing  to  take  at  least  ordinary  chances 


COMMON-SENSE  RULES         85 

of  being  wrong.  Soul-harrowing  analyses 
to  prove  one's  moral  impeccability  are 
merely  expressions  of  nothing  better  than 
worry  about  self,  and  the  same  rules  apply 
to  this  sort  of  worry  as  to  all  other  sorts. 
9.  Energy  is  often  wasted  by  a  peculiar 
process  which  many  people  seem  to  think 
necessary  before  they  can  do  anything, 
especially  anything  that  promises  to  be 
difficult.  I  refer  to  a  sort  of  "  getting  up 
steam,"  a  kind  of  moral  mobilization,  an 
attitude  of  "girding  up  the  loins,"  men- 
tally speaking,  which  is  referred  to  by 
them  as  "making  up  their  minds,"  or 
"  getting  ready  "  to  do  something.  It  is 
not  a  decision,  but  usually  follows  one  as 
a  sort  of  preliminary  flourish  before  ac- 
tion. It  is  really  only  picking  up  a  moral 
sledgehammer,  and  an  imaginary  one  at 
that,  when  a  practical  decision  has  already 
cleared  the  way,  and  nothing  remains  to 
be  done  save  to  begin  immediate  action. 
When  a  decision  has  been  reached,  when 
something  has  to  be  done,  waste  no  time 
in  mobilizing  extra  energy,  just  do  it. 


86  JUST  NERVES 

10.  Lastly,  to  avoid  breaks  in  charac- 
ter, breaks  between  your  ideals  and  your 
everyday  actions,  recognize  that  your 
problem  is  fundamentally  the  same  as 
every  one  else's,  no  matter  what  your  par- 
ticular job  may  be.  This  problem  of  ours, 
reduced  to  its  common  denominator,  is  to 
keep  our  ideal  clear,  to  adopt  purposes 
which  shall  serve  these  ideals,  and  lastly 
to  make  our  ideals  live  in  practical,  pur- 
posive everyday  action.  To  do  this,  it  is 
first  necessary  to  accept  the  material  of 
life  as  plenty  good  enough  for  us,  as  defi- 
nitely our  material,  awaiting  only  our 
workmanship  to  be  forged  into  success. 
This  should  be  our  method  of  making  our 
dreams  come  true,  of  living  up  to  our 
great  illusion.  Therefore,  waste  no  time 
in  kicking  against  the  pricks.  The  "  divine 
unrest"  of  ambition  is  a  noble  spur  to 
better  action,  but  the  restlessness  of  dis- 
content is  a  miserable  state  of  misunder- 
standing. Beware  the  contrary  currents 
of  anger,  fear,  and  pride,  but  turn  the 


COMMON-SENSE  RULES         87 

i 

strength  of  these  currents  into  the  chan- 
nels of  your  purposes.  Do  not  criticize 
your  part  in  the  play,  study  it,  understand 
it,  and  then  play  it,  sick  or  well,  rich  or 
poor,  with  faith,  with  courage,  and  with 
proper  grace. 

To  follow  these  rules  absolutely  and  to 
the  letter  is  certainly  somewhat  beyond 
the  power  of  human  frailty,  but  to  follow 
the  spirit,  to  steer  one's  course  by  some 
such  compass,  is  both  possible  and  practi- 
cal. Thus,  and  only  thus,  can  one  main- 
tain a  good,  safe  offing  from  the  shoals 
and  reefs  of  nervousness. 


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